Several parents in Nasarawa on Monday heeded the State Government’s advice to present their children and wards for vaccination against measles, media men report.

A correspondent monitoring the exercise at Ezhiba community in Akun Development Area of the state reports that large number of children turned out for the vaccination.

The vaccination, which commenced across the communities in the state on Feb. 15, will end on Tuesday. Parents were seen mobilising their children and wards towards the designated centres for the exercise to beat the Feb. 20 deadline.

A house wife, Mrs Litini Thomas, told media men that “As you can see, we are complying with all measles immunisation response through mobilisation of our children towards eradicating the deadly diseases in the state and the country at large.

“Measles is a deadly disease and we are mobilising our children for the exercise because we want to eradicate the deadly disease in the country. I am also commending the state and federal governments for giving adequate attention to the measles and other health programmes for the purpose of improving the health of the people,” he said.

Thomas called on other parents yet to vaccinate their children against measles to avail their children the opportunity in their interest. Another parent, Mr Nicodemus Bulus, said that he took his child for the immunisation considering the importance of the measles vaccination to health.

“In fact, I commend the government for the exercise and for enlightening the people on the vaccination. It is safe for children’s health and not harmful to children in any way.

“We are complementing government efforts and in the interest of the health of our children; that is why, as you can see, we have mobilised our children for the vaccination,” he said.

Ms Ashe Godwin, another parent, told the media men that: “I brought my little brother for the vaccination because my parents directed me to ensure that he should be vaccinated.

“I want to thank governments for their continued attention to the health sector. I am calling for its sustenance and I also want to call on all stakeholders to play a role in ensuring that every child in his/her area is vaccinated.”

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board says over 900,000 children will be immunised against polio in the first round of 2018 vaccination across the territory.

The Acting Executive Secretary, Dr Mathew Ashikeni told media men in an interview in Abuja on Saturday that adequate personnel had been engaged to carry out the exercise simultaneously across the six area councils in FCT.

He said that his board had received enough Oral Polio Vaccines (OPVs) to ensure that no child under the age of five is left out in the forthcoming exercise which will kick off on Jan. 20 and end on Jan. 23.

According to him, all necessary arrangement had been made to ensure a smooth conduct of the vaccination. He appealed to parents and guidance to bring out their children and wards within the age limit for the Immunisation.

The acting executive secretary stated that vaccinators will be going from house to house, in schools, estates, places of worship, on the streets, markets, farmlands, IDPs camps and nomadic settlements.

Ashikeni said that the vaccine is safe and protective as booster doses would provide additional protection to the children.

He enjoined traditional and religious leaders as well as other stakeholders to work with the board as usual in ensuring the success of the exercise in FCT.

Media men reports that in July 2017, the board targeted 750,000 children for immunisation in the Sub National Vaccination Plus Day in the territory.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board, says plans have been concluded to immunise children against measles in February across the territory.

The Acting Executive Secretary of the board, Dr Mathew Ashikeni, disclosed this while speaking with news men in Abuja on Thursday.

Dr Ashikeni explained that children between the ages of nine and five years would be vaccinated when the exercise commence in February 8 to February 13.

He said that the immunisation would be conducted in all Primary Health Care centres, schools, on the streets and wherever children within the age bracket were found, to ensure no child is left out. According to him, the vaccination is very important because of its adverse health implication on children.

“A lot of blindness you see among our children is the consequence of complication from measles and it is also life threatening. Measles cause brain infection, life threatening diarrhoea, vomiting and malnutrition and many affected children die if it is not properly managed,” he said.

The acting executive secretary urged parents to bring out their children and wards for the vaccination against measles.

Immunization experts from African countries and beyond have this week convened in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the biannual Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (RITAG) meeting.

The RITAG serves as the principal advisory group to the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa, offering strategic guidance on regional immunization policies and programs.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti

While Africa has made significant gains toward increasing access to immunization in the past few decades, immunization coverage, measured by percentage of children receiving the third dose of the Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis vaccine (DTP3) containing vaccine, has stagnated at 74 per cent in recent years.

A statement from RITAG group says vVaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPDs) still kill more than half a million children under five years of age in Africa every year, representing approximately 56 per cent of global deaths caused by VPDs.

“At the current pace, the region is off track to achieve the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) and the Africa Regional Strategic Plan for Immunization (RSPI) target of 90% national immunization coverage by 2020. However, important progress has been made in some key areas.

By the end of 2016, all countries in the region had introduced Hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b vaccines. In addition, 39 countries had introduced the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and 32 had introduced the rotavirus vaccine to protect against the two biggest childhood killers – pneumonia and diarrhea, respectively,” the statement read.

For the first time, this year, WHO published immunization data at the subnational level, to help tailor interventions at the district level and address gaps that are often masked by national vaccine coverage data. Political will is also at an all-time high as shown by the Heads of State endorsement of the Addis Declaration on Immunization at the 28th African Union Summit.

WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said they know vaccines work, when children are given a healthy start, families and communities thrive and economies grow stronger.

“We have made great strides in recent years, but there is much work to be done to ensure that all children, no matter where they live, have access to the life-saving vaccines they need. Even one child still losing its life to a preventable disease is one child too many,” he said.

Over the course of the meeting, RITAG members explored a range of pressing issues, including access to affordable vaccines for middle-income countries; maternal & neonatal tetanus elimination in Africa; and management of cholera in emergency settings.

The RITAG also discussed the broader effects of upcoming financing transitions. Most notably, as Africa nears polio eradication, funding to countries through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) for immunization activities is expected to reduce by 50 per cent between 2017 and 2019.

RITAG Chair, Professor Helen Rees, said the RITAG meeting was an important opportunity to assess what we need to do to reach every child in Africa with life-saving vaccines. “We have identified some of the greatest challenges and opportunities. I am confident that together we can and will stem the tide of vaccine-preventable diseases across the continent,” he said.

The attention of the Federal Government has been drawn to rumours concerning vaccination perceived to be harmful to children. The Federal Government wishes to state clearly that there was no such harmful vaccination that took place nor any currently taking place in any part of the country.

This was contain in a press release signed by the Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr Faisal Shuaib and obtained by this paper. It further emphasized that the Federal Government wishes to re-assure all parents and guardians of the safety, potency and effectiveness of all vaccines. All vaccines used in Nigeria meet international standards and quality set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and are further certified by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

While acknowledging and commending all states, local government areas, the media, civil society, development partners, traditional and religious leaders for their un-wavering support and commitment to immunization, the Federal Government appeals to those peddling such un-patriotic, malicious and misleading information to desist from such acts that undermine our trust and faith in the health system.

“Immunization is the most effective public health intervention. The primary benefit of vaccination is that it prevents disease and confers immunity. Vaccination protects the people we care about, it is cost-effective and saves lives. Over the last decade, government’s commitment to safeguard the lives of its citizens has seen a significant decline in the incidence of childhood killer diseases. It is important that we do not allow such misinformation to reverse the gains recorded.

Vaccination is not just a personal choice. Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children expose the entire community to the risk of disease outbreaks.” Says Dr Faisal.

As Nigeria conducts national rounds of Polio, Yellow Fever and Measles campaigns, beginning from October 2017, all parents are urged to continue to avail their children of the opportunity to receive the safe vaccines and thereby protect them from vaccine preventable diseases.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board, on Wednesday said it has immunised 901,513 under-five children against polio in the just concluded round of vaccination in the territory.

The Acting Executive Secretary of the board, Dr Mathew Ashikeni, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja. Dr Ashikeni said the number of children immunised had surpassed the targeted 746,466 children intended to be vaccinated.

He also said internal monitoring report of the board indicated that about 100 per cent was covered, while World Health Organisation (WHO) showed coverage of 96 per cent during the exercise.

The acting executive secretary said the success recorded in the last vaccination was due to commitment of all stakeholders involved.

Ashikeni explained that workers that were engaged in the exercise were paid their entitlements before going to the field, adding that support from donor agencies were received in good time. He disclosed that no fewer than 200 supervisors were deployed to monitor the exercise across the six area councils in FCT.

Dr Ashikeni commended FCT Minister, Alhaji Muhammad Musa Bello, for leading the campaign which made some residents to accept the vaccine administered to their children.

He said that in spite the success recorded, there were still cases of rejection in some public schools and religious houses in the territory.

The executive secretary restated the board’s commitment and determination to eradicate polio and other childhood preventable diseases from the territory.

The National Assembly has approved Federal Government loan of $125 million from the World Bank to finance 2017 polio eradication program, and other Routine Immunization Vaccines.

The $125million loan will cater for 80 per cent of Nigeria’s Immunization funding requirement in 2017 and make-up the 20 per cent allocation for polio eradication and immunization program in the 2017 budget.

This was disclosed in Abuja during the meeting of the advocacy committee of National Immunization Financing Task Team (NIFT) hosted by Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), through its Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH) project.

The Deputy Director Finance of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Mr Ganiyu Salau, who provided updates on immunization funding requirement for 2017, said the World Bank loan will sustain immunization program for 2017.

He emphasized the need for improved political will of the Nigerian Government to fund immunization. Tour correspondent reports that the meeting was for advocates in the immunization space to get recent details on 2017 immunization funding, and other alternate source of funding.

The NPHCDA representatives during the meeting briefed participants that the agency is looking towards 2018 to commence consultation for innovative immunization financing and getting full commitment of the Nigerian government to self-fund its immunization activities.

On sustainability of Immunization financing in Nigeria, CHR-PACFaH Project Director, and co-chair of the advocacy committee NIFT, Dr Aminu Magashi Garba, said there is need for improved political will of Nigerian government to take leadership in immunization financing, to guarantee availability of vaccines.

The Co-chair of NIFT advocacy committee and Country Lead of International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), Dr Chizoba Wonodi, said “there has to be a developed transition plan by Nigeria as we co-finance immunization with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance during the transition period as well as sustainable and innovative ways of funding after Gavi exist.”

The Kano State Government said it is targeting 3.5 million children for the fourth round of the National Polio Immunisation exercise scheduled for Saturday, April 22.

The State’s Commissioner of Health, Dr. Kabir Ibrahim Getso disclosed this on Friday in Kano during an interactive session with some development partners as part of preparations for the exercise in the state.

Dr. Kabir Ibrahim Getso

According to him, the interactive session will assist towards achieving the desired results during the four-day exercise to be carried out in each of the 44 Local Government Areas of the state.

Dr. Getso said despite the fact that the state has not recorded any case of the polio for the past 33 months, the state government will not relent in its efforts to ensure that there is no any outbreak again.

He described such success as a major achievement by the Kano State Government which every citizen should be proud of.

“In the next three months, we will be celebrating three years without polio in Kano state. If not for the four cases recorded in Borno State, Nigeria would have been satified polio free,” the Commissioner said.

He expressed the commitment of the state government towards ensuring that the country became polio free through collaboration with local and international partners.

He disclosed that the State Government had provided adequate funds to ensure that the exercise in the state was hitch-free.

Dr. Getso added that the state government had also set up five committees to ensure effective supervision and monitoring of the exercise.

An Immunisation Team Leader, Maternal and Child Survival Programme, Dr. Folake Olayinka on Friday urged the Federal Government to introduce meningitis vaccine into the Routine Immunisation programme.

Dr. Olayinka, a USAID awardee, speaking with newsmen said in Lagos that the inclusion would be a proactive and preventive measure against strains of meningitis.

She added that there was the need for further studies to determine the appropriate meningitis vaccine to be introduced in Nigeria. She spoke against the backdrop of meningitis outbreak in some parts of Nigeria and the forthcoming 2017 World Immunisation Week.

Our correspondent report that the week comes up from April 24 to April 30. According to Olayinka, preparing against outbreaks begins long before the first case is recorded.

She said that the preparation must entail strong routine immunisation system that would provide vaccination to target groups. “In a meeting of experts in October 2015 at the World Health Organisation (WHO), concerns over Meningitis C were raised. The preventive measures that needed to be put in place were discussed, such as enhanced surveillance, prepositioning for rapid laboratory diagnosis, lumbar puncture kits and antibiotics.

“Vaccination was also discussed. However, given the shortage of the vaccines for the Meningitis C strain, it was suggested that rather than the ideal preventive campaign with a polyvalent vaccine, a reactive campaign should be conducted at the onset of an outbreak,” she said.

She told newsmen that the recent outbreak of Meningitis C in 19 states of Nigeria had resulted in more than 400 deaths. Newsmen reports that since the beginning of this year, the country has reported about 4,637 suspected cases and 489 deaths from meningitis C in five affected states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Niger.